Pages

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Letting the cat out of the bag (thank goodness)

I’ve been quiet lately... I’m a shy gal anyway, but it’s time I officially spill the beans. Eight months ago, I did something that I hope will add another chapter to my book of life.

You know that feeling you get inside your body when you’re about to embark upon something unknown... something a bit terrifying yet incredibly exciting? For me, the feeling comes with an elevated heart rate, a butterfly farm in my stomach, and slight tension in the neck. According to my journal notes, this is what I felt that day a long eight months ago.

I was sitting in one of my favorite Boulder coffee shops mid-afternoon with my iced coffee that I should not be drinking at 4pm. That was back when I was a coffee and caffeine addict, which I am no longer. Woot! Anyway, the coffee seemed to give me a sense of company through the experience. You see, I was shopping online for the next adventure.

Yikes! The dollar amount for this event for which I was about to register made me dribble my coffee. But it was not really THAT big of a surprise to me. I filled in my payment information (thank you American Express) on the Registration web page.

I stared at the “Pay Now” button. My mouse pointer hovered over the button. Shoot, there goes the heart rate again.

I took a few more moments to think about this one last time... asking those common questions: are you ready to commit? do you have what it takes? how much more research do you need to read before you click on the payment button? I scrolled up on the web page just to make sure there weren’t typos. Just procrastinating really. Then, I clicked Pay Now.

Two blinks later.

It was done.

I registered for my first IRONMAN (Coeur d'Alene).

I would ask you not to tell my Mom, but I already broke the news (and yaay, I’m still alive!). Since I have had several family members, friends, and athletes ask me what would be my next race after my successful 50-miler last year, I have made mention of this ‘event’ yet have not spoken much about it. I wasn’t sure I would be able to commit to the race after I developed an eye condition in October that brought my training to a halt. I have since been able to bounce back and am feeling less shy about all of it.

So, now you know some of what I’ve been up to lately... training. I am even more excited to share with you the fact that I will be continuing the nutrition experiment Bob and I started last year which is a high-fat, low-carb daily pattern to see how metabolic efficiency, health markers and training performance are affected along the way. My next round of blood draws and metabolic efficiency testing are coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more reports.

4 comments:

Hi Dina,I was wondering about your high fat low carb experiment. Sounds like you're getting great results! I have been doing something very similar and I've been getting great results as well. My question is...does the Fuel4mance book reflect the details of the high fat low carb plan you're on? Or is the book something different? I know you just started the new plan recently, so I was just wondering. I was thinking about getting the book, but I also wanted to make sure it included what you are doing now. Does that make sense? Thank you!!!

Jamie, the book gives details on how to balance blood sugar/insulin levels using carbohydrate to protein ratios. There are examples on how to use the ratios and a reference guide listing many common foods with their carb, protein, and ratio information. This version of the e-book does not reflect fat content of foods, but this is not essential to learning and implementing a higher fat, lower carb diet. I still use the e-book for my own metabolic efficiency training (even with my nutrition experiment!). Hope this helps!

Great news. I'm also doing the same low carb experiment with positive results like yourself. I'm now entering month 3 of my first Ironman training and just started intoducing UCAN on some of the longer rides. I was wondering if you could give me an idea on how I could just top my carb stores 2/3 days before the event without compromising metabolic efficiency, mainly I'm interested in what kind of foods to have, quantities and timings. I wish you all the best in the challenge of becoming a metabolic efficient Ironwoman. ;-)